Dog Years

by Melissa Yancy

Winner of the 2016 Drue Heinz Literature Prize
Winner of the 2017 California Book Awards, first fiction category

Many of these richly layered stories juxtapose the miracles of modern medicine against the inescapable frustrations of everyday awkward first dates, the indignities of air travel, and overwhelming megastore cereal aisles. In “Go Forth,” an aging couple attends a kidney transplant reunion, where donors and recipients collide with unexpected results; in “Hounds,” a woman who runs a facial reconstruction program for veterans nurses her dying dog while recounting the ways she has used sex as both a weapon and a salve; and in “Consider This Case,” a lonely fetal surgeon caring for his aesthete father must reconsider sexuality and the lengths people will go to have children.
            Melissa Yancy’s personal experience in the milieus of hospitals, medicine, and family services infuse her narratives with a rare texture and gravity. Keenly observant, offering both sharp humor and humanity, these stories explore the ties that bind—both genetic and otherwise—and the fine line between the mundane and the maudlin. Whether the men or women that populate these pages are contending with illness, death, or parenthood, the real focus is on time and our inability to slow its progression, reminding us to revel in those moments we can control.

Genres: Short Stories

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 5, 2016

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of short stories that are all medical narratives in one form or another, broken people trying to get better. Highly recommended.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is insanely good. Gorgeous and compelling and moving and smart.

[Smiley III · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Just as when she sees undergraduates gathered around a table in the union [the character is a professor], oily faces reflected in their computer screens, she feels nostalgia for a time in her life she knows she didn't especially enjoy. She can remember being lonely, eating rice and soy sauce and obsessing that other girls were pretty." Or: "He is one of those men who age well, Julian thinks; he undoubtedly looks better than he did fifteen years ago. His teeth are so tidy and white. Sometimes Julian feels angry at those men." Or:"Barbara was an agreeable person, one of her major character deficits." Or: "Captain was dying, but Captain had been dying for so many years without having actually died, that it no longer seemed fair to Jess to refer to this late stage of his living as dying." Or:"I thought you'd find it interesting, her boss said, smiling as though he were doing her a favor. Her boss was a squat man who liked to drink Tecate on the weekends and host BBQs. He was affable and harmless, but she had heard from other staff that he had been a political prisoner in his youth."

These are all from different stories in this book. Why aren't you reading it? It's great!

;)

#yeah--

[Gail Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of beautifully written short stories! My favorites were the first and the last in the book. The story Dog Years is about a boy with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (the same condition my husband has). When I chose this book, I had no idea there was a story in it about a character with this rare disability! I can tell you with authority that it does a good job of capturing the feeling of a family member/caregiver and the things she deals with. I also loved Stray and really empathized with the loneliness of the main character. The author really does a great job of putting you inside the mind of the characters. I would definitely recommend this book!

[Susann Cokal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This incredible book kicked me in the heart and made me fall in love with short stories again. There are so many gems that I wonder how they all fit between two covers.

The title piece is a marvel of structure and emotional impact, with a firecracker going off every few lines; I actually wept. And it is not the only standout ... The only disappointment here comes when you reach the end of the collection. But there's nothing wrong with going back and rereading, which I'm doing now.

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yancy’s prose is stunningly beautiful. Many of the stories are quirky, tales about medical professionals, settings, and patients. But others are about unique characters making their way in the world. I enjoyed each one for different reasons. But overall, I’m just blown away by her writing. Wow!

[richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shorts with well-observed characters in and around illness, otherness, the daily tribulations of living with conditions or circumstances other people barely see. Yancy leaves just enough time to build the backstories, barely enough time beyond. I found each story to be compelling in its own way, enticing empathy without necessarily relying on cheap sentiment, as a sum of the parts quite remarkable.

[Colleen Mertens · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories, most of which involve the medical world in some way. Many of the stories are tragic and they can be hard to read because of that. Some are written well. This book will definitely appeal to someone who likes reading about medical issues.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quit halfway through, just wasn't for me. To me every story/chapter felt like the premise for a story.

[Mary Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up on a whim and flew through it. I very much enjoyed each story and would recommend it to others.

[Vera Kurian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid collection from a writer who conveys the interior emotional lives of her characters elegantly. I must say that I appreciate that these stories are on the longer side: meaty enough that you can be drawn in and dwell with the characters for long enough that you care.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories were each very compelling. The author had extensive knowledge of science and healthcare which I enjoyed. Almost all of them were bleak, sad stories, but they contained insights into family relationships and modern life which made them well worth reading.